Ice-creeper.



V. AJELLO.

ICE CREEPER.

APPLICATION FILED APR-2,19I3. RENEWED JULY 24. I917.

Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

INVENT'Ra WITNESSES. amaze. G Lima sans T ICE-CREEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

Application filed April 2, 1913, Serial No. 758,455. Renewed July 24, 1917. Serial No. 182,586.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VINCENT AJnLLo, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ice-Creepers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

My invention relates to improvements in clamping or securing devices especially though not exclusively adapted for use with ice creepers for pedestrians and is particularly concerned with a device of this charac ter to be used with an ice creeper in which the tread member may be readily turned to inoperative position while still attached to the shoe in such manner as not to impede the movements of the user and not to present an unsightly appearance. A further object is to provide for ready adjustment of the device to fit different sizes of articles such as shoes, and furthermore to so construct the device that all parts may be made of a substantial and uniform size and shape and yet adapted to be made up into clamping devices of different size.

With these objects in view, the device consists of a construction and arrangement of parts, a preferred embodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device attached to the heel of a shoe and shows in full lines in operative position and in dotted lines in inoperative position. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the ice creeper detached from the shoe; Fig. 3 is a similar view of the body portion or support of the creeper the attaching means being omitted for clear illustration. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the attaching clamps and Fig. 5 is a similar view of the securing} or locking device.

eferring to Fig. 1, 1 indicates a heel to the breast 2 of which the creeper is to be secured. The ice creeper comprises the body or supporting portion 3 having guide ribs 4 and 5 for the support and guidance of the clamping or attaching members 6 and 7. To the body portion is hinged at 8 the spike or creeper plate 9 ofiF-set at 10 from .the hinge, so as to clear the front corner 11 on the breast of the heel, thus permitting the plate to lie closely against the tread of the heel when in operative position, as shown in Fig.1.

.When the creeper plate is in inoperative position, as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 1, this oil-set portion 10 allows it to effectively clear the'ground and lie well within the instep cavity of the shoe entirely out of sight. Each clamping member 6 or 7 is provided with a plurality of apertures 11 any one of which may be used to receive a pivot pin 12 by which a locking link 13 may be attached to the clamping member. The opposite end of this link may be pivoted by a pm 14 to the locking lever 15 which in turn may be pivoted as at 16 through any one of the apertures 11 of one of the clamping members 6. The locking lever 15 (Fig. 5) is also provided with a plurality of apertures 17 so that the connecting link 13 may be secured to this lever through any one of these apertures 17 according to the size of the creeper to be assembled. The clamping members are slidingly engaged with the body portion 3 by means of headed pins 18 which pass through the slots 19 of the body portion 3. In order to attach the creeper to the shoe, the clamping lever 15 is turned to open position, as shown in F ig. 2 whereby the clamps 6 and 7 are expanded and may be fitted over the sides of the breast of the heel The lever 15 is then moved up to locklng position in alinement with the clamping members as indicated in Fig. 1.

That is to say, referring to Fig. 2, the lever 15 would be moved around from the clamp 6 thus throwing the pin 16 into position between the pintles 12 and 14 and drawing the cla ps to e her.

By providing both the clamps and the locking lever with the several apertures shown, said clamps and lever may be made of uniform size for all sizes of clamps. To vary the size of the creeper, it is'only necessary to vary the arrangement of the lock ing lever pintle 16 in the apertures 18 of the clamp 6 and the arrangement of the link plntle 12 in one of the apertures 18 of the clamp 7. Likewise the pintle 14. connecting the locking lever and link 13 may be arranged 1n any one of the apertures 17 of the locking lever. Thus it will be seen that great economy in manufacture is effected for the reason that these parts mav be stamped out in the same set of dies for all sizes of creepers.

The relative arrangement of the clamps. locking lever and link may be effected. per manently by heading the pintles in their respective apertures for difierent sizes of their respective clamps may be permanently connected to the pintle 14, by which the link 13 is connected with the locking leverhl5w may be simply a straight pintle permanently V secured to the link but capable of insertion the shoes upon which he may desire to use'it.

by the user in any one of the apertures 17 of the locking lever. This is rendered possible by the fact that the permanent fastening of the link 12 to its clamp 7 permits it a certain amount of spring action by which it may be snapped into and out of engagement with the aperture 17 of the locking lever, so that the user of the device may adjust the position'o'fthe clamps according to the variations in breadth of the heels of While I have herein described-a particular embodiment of my invention, it is understood that the same may be altered in de tails and relative arrangement of parts and may be adapted to other use within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. :An ice creeper comprising a'body member adapted to engage'the breast of the heel, 'a spike member pivoted thereto and adapted to be turned beneath the tread of the heel or beneath the instep of the shoe, clamping members slidably attached to said body portion, a locking link, and a locking lever pivoted to said clamping members respectively, and pivoted together, said clamping members and locking members having means whereby they may be pivoted together in a variety of relative arrangements-to produce creepers to fit heels of different sizes.

2.*An ice creeper comprising a baseplate adapted to engagethebreast of the heel of theshoe, a spiked member pivoted thereto and adapted to be turned beneath the tread shoe, said base plate having guiding ribs,

clamping members slidably secured upon said base plate, each having a series of apertures-arranged,longitudinally;thereof and locking. means comprising a locking lever havin av oluralitofaoertures eXtendm v t: l a longitudlnally thereof, and'a pm adapted to secure said lever to one of said clamping members, said pin passing through any one 1 of the apertures in said clamping member or size'and shape.

3. An ice creeper comprising a base plate adapted to engage the breast of the heel of the shoe, a spiked member pivoted thereto and adapted'to be turned beneath the tread of the heel and beneath the instep of the shoe, said base platehaving guiding ribs, clamping members slidably secured upon said base plate,1eacl1 having aseries of apertures arranged longitudinally thereof and locking means comprising a locking lever having a plurality of apertures extending longitudinally thereof, and a pinadapted to secure said lever to one of said clamping members, said pin being adapted to; pass:-

through any one of the apertures in said clamping memberor said lever, respectively, and alink pin to permanently secure s'aid link firmly to one of theapertures 0t the said link andadapted to removably engage 'otherclampingmember and a pin carried by in one of theaperturesof the'locking lever wherebythe arrangement of-the parts tmay bevaried: to fit different: sizes-of heels by varying the arrangement; of said removable I pin with respect to said locking lever;

Int testimonywhereofil the said VINCENT :AJELLO havevhereuntorsetmyhand. of the heel and beneath the instep of the l i i i 'VINGENT, AJ-ELLO.

Witnesses: i RO ERT C.TorrEN,'.

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